Black Roses
by El Conejo Morado
Summary: HitoxMingming! Freaky pairing! Yay! So Hitoshi and Minmin reflect on how they grew to know each other, and start a relationship. Flames welcome!
1. Prologue? I

A/N: I CLAIM FIRST HITO/MING-MING! WOO! I CLAIMED SOMETHING! YAY! I FEEL SOOO SMART! Yah. Well, it's a strange couple, but hey, that's what fanfiction is for.

Background info: In this, Ming-ming will be around 17 (saaay, two years after G-rev)except when she's reflecting, and Hitoshi is 27 (except when he's reflecting). Whoa, lolita-complex! 0.o;; Which has got to be totally non-canon, but then again, this is fanfiction. And obviously an AU. So anyway, let's assume evil Queen Minmin (Mingumingu's dark side? Yah? Remember her?) and cute popstar Ming aren't the same person. In fact, let's pretend that evil Ming Ming doesn't even exist. For this ficlet, anyway... just lots of reflection before we get into da good stuff. o

Anyway, on with the flick!

"Black Roses"

Ming Ming -

I'm not quite sure when I fell in love with him.

Hitoshi Kinomiya. Ninja. Archeologist. Brother to the World Champion. Utterly gorgeous. Just utterly.

Those were my first thoughts when I first met him. He was only present to train Brooklyn, although I certainly don't think Brooklyn needed it. Those first weeks, I only saw him occassionally. Passing through the halls, a glimpse through a window, stepping into a car to leave... he wasn't concerned with my existance, and truthfully, at the time, the feeling was reciprocated.

I think that, maybe, just maybe I began to feel a little more towards him after the team members for Justice5 were chosen. Listening to him discourage Hiwatari; praise Brooklyn's yet unknown abilities; watching the way he moved from the hallway into the limelight. He commanded immediate attention, but I, being young and enamoured with nothing but beyblading, turned my face away and focused on the battle.

The image stuck, though. I will always remember that moment. But I do not know when I fell in love.

After he became the team trainer instead of simply _Brooklyn's_ trainer, I began to see more of him. In the co-ed locker rooms, he would exchange occasional words with one of the others. I never saw him on my own or talked with him, even, other than a polite 'good morning, Jin-sempai' on rainy days when we trained inside. I wanted to sing. I wanted to Blade.

And it wasn't until the moment I lifted my microphone to sing against Sumeragi that I first thought of singing for him. To him. Of him. The thought was brief, and quickly dismissed; but that was the first time.

After the battles, while Kinomiya and Brooklyn were battling happily, I saw him walk away. He threw his glasses and I thought--was that a tear? Jin-sempai? Crying? Was it from pride or disappointment? Several minutes later, it began to bother me. I couldn't focus on the battle; so I left, quickly.

And wonders be, I caught up with him. That was the first time we spoke alone. The first time I looked directly into his eyes.

He had been sauntering down the sidewalk some ways away from the devastated Bey stadium, most likely headed toward his car or home. I had to run to catch up with him; through the beginning of the conversation, I was breathless. Was it simply from running so hard to catch him? Now I wonder. Perhaps that is when it started?

_"Jin-sempai! Matte! Onegai!"_

He didn't stop at first, but he did slow and even pause, turning slightly to look at me as I ran towards him.

_"Mingming, stop calling me that. I'm not your upperclassmen."_

I fell in step with him, and we began walking slowly once more.

_"Even so. Where are you going?"_

_"Does it matter?"_

_"Not really. I just wanted to know."_

We were silent for a while. Now that I think back on it, it's thrilling to know that he let me walk with him.

_"He really is something, isn't he?"_

_"Who?"_

_"Takao-kun. It's amazing how strong he is."_

_"Aa. Yes."_

_"He must get it from you."_

_"I doubt that." _

And we were silent again until he happened upon his car.

_"Will you com back?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"I get the feeling you're going to leave."_

_"I'm not."_

_"No? Staying in Japan? Tokyo?"_

_"Maybe."_

He closed his car door, and I stepped back smiling. Then was the first time I really looked directly into his eyes.

_"Ja ne, Mingming."_

So... breathless...

I watched until his car had completely disappeared; and then I turned those silly teeange girl thoughts away; so my now-former trainer would be staying around. Big deal. That had nothing to do with his eyes. Nothing did.

I turned and jogged back toward the once-Bey stadium. The battle was over.

I went home.


	2. Prologue? II

A/N: Chappie two! Woo! ...I'm so weird... thanks fer readin'! X3

Black Roses - Ch.2

Hitoshi -

I may never know when she first sparked my interest.

I never was into high school girls with short skirts, and certainly am not now. So justifiably then, Minmin did not have the means to hold my attention for very long. Yet somehow...

Now she is my world, cliche as that sounds. I can't imagine life without her...

I will, however, always remember our first kiss. She's just 17 now, but at the time she was only 15. I had known then exactly what would happen if anybody found out. I knew what would happen if she rejected me. But I had also known we would not be caught at the time, and that she could not say no.

But maybe I'm going a bit fast.

Around three or four weeks after Takao's win against BEGA, I had mastered myself a home in the suburbs of Tokyo, almost an hour away from the actual city. I had myself a freelancing job that payed more than enough. My entire life was set, but I couln't sit still for long. I never could.

So, sitting outside a small coffee shop in the center of the city, I set my laptop up against the sun and set to work, focusing most of my attention on Italy. That was the next time I saw her after BEGA. I was cloaked in the shadow of a large cherry tree, clothed in non-descriptive, every day clothing, and hidden behind a light jacket and a new pair of sunglasses. But she still managed to pick me out.

_"Jin-sempai! Is that you? Wow! It's been forever!"_

She had done a very nice job for startling me. That much was certain.

_"Minmin? What are you doing here?"_

_"Oh, looking for a site to practice with my band. But you're a surprise! So what's been going on?"_

She plopped herself down in the chair next to me, not too close for discomfort, but close enough that she could see what I was doing. She had her hair up in the usual style, wore the same make-up, had the same voice--in fact, the only thing that had changed about her in three and a half weeks was her clothing choice for the day: her school uniform. Interestingly enough, I had never seen her in a school uniform. I must have, at some point, assumed she was home-schooled.

I answered her questions with another question of my own.

_"Just get out of school?"_

_"Oh! ...um, yeah. It's a ways from here, though."_

_"Well. The uniform is cute."_

She blushed. Grinning and shifting slightly, her 'thank you, Jin-sempai' was murmured. She says now that she can't remember when she first started liking me, but I think that it must have been before then. Maybe near the end of the BEGA tournament.

I, however, am a different matter.

_"So you're going to Italy, huh?"_

_"Thinking about it."_

_"I thought that you were going to stay here? At least for a while?"_

_"It's boring here. There're more new bladers in Italy than Japan."_

_"Aa... and... you're going to go train them, huh?"_

_"I might." _

I did not know what compelled me to be so open with her. The end of that conversation was a surprise as well.

_"I really had hoped you'd be staying. We barely spend any time with each other, and you were my trainer and all... well, sort of."_

_"And that constitutes a friendship?"_

_"Well, of a sort, yeah." _

She smiled up at me.

_"Let's go somewhere some time, Jim-sempai. Before you leave--just the two of us friends. Sound good?"_

I accepted. I don't know why or how; but I accepted. It was set up for the following Saturday evening, and it wasn't until after I had arrived home that I realized just what I had done.

I had a date with Minmin.


End file.
